Chapter 2

"So, what's the verdict?" Thomas asked.

"We need to do only a small repair, and then it's as good as new," Bella told him.

"Well, that's so good to hear. Charlie and Reneé took good care of this place," Thomas said, sharing the relief with Bella. God, how she loved Thomas. She could always rely on him for emotional support.

"They sure did. And now it is my turn to do the same."

Bella was cleaning the mess the plumber had left behind. Thanks to her diligent parents, she hadn't got the bad news she had feared, and the plumbing was in excellent condition. But there was a leakage that needed fixing, and it would cost quite a bit when done correctly. But she wanted to be as thorough as her parents and ensure the plumber would do an excellent job fixing the leakage. It would pay off, in the end, to do things well. That was what her parents had taught her.

Bella sighed and moved the garbage bag to the back door.

She was so tired. After coming home from seeing Embry last night, she had studied for the next exam that was coming just in two days. She had loved spending time with Embry and meeting his friends. When she was away from home, she didn't have time to think about the leaking plumbing, delayed book deliveries, broken coffee machine, or international tea festivals, but just be Bella, a 20-year-old-girl, for a while. But the time spent with Embry came with a price, and now she was just exhausted.

Bella smiled, thinking about Embry. He was such a nice guy. Funny to be with, so sexy and fantastic in bed, an amazing artist. It was a shame he lived so far away, and possibilities to spend time with him were few and far between. She had never met someone she liked as much. But on the other hand, it was easier this way; she just didn't have the time to have guys in her life. She didn't need extra complications, and guys almost always meant difficulties.

This week was going to be a stretch; Beth was visiting her daughter in New York for a week, which meant she was on B&B duty this week. She would have asked Beth to go later in June, but she could hardly ask her daughter to have her baby later.

Bella didn't mind keeping the room tidy, cleaning, and making the bed. What she didn't enjoy was feeding the guests. Beth had made things as ready as she could, and the freezer was full of oven-ready croissants and bread rolls. But she still had to get them out of the oven unburned. She just didn't have the patience to feed the guests, she was okay making eatable food for herself, but that's all.

A German couple occupied the room for the next three days. After them, they would have Mr. And Mrs. Cheng from China. She loved having international guests, and they were pretty plenty around this part of the city. Only about 20 percent of her guests were from the US.

Bella climbed into the attic and started to clean after the guests that left early this morning. They had left the place in immaculate condition. She opened the window and welcomed the fresh sea air into the musty room.

She peeled off the quilt cover and the bedsheet and threw them to the floor. She grabbed one pillow and sat on the bed, peeling the pillowcase off. She looked around and sighed. This room holds so many memories.

When she was a child, she had had sleepovers with her mother in the guest room. They would make a massive bowl of popcorn and come up here to read books and draw pictures, some of them framed on the walls. Bella felt tears prickling in her eyes. She would never forget the day her parents died. They were driving back from Los Angeles when a large truck hit them, and they had died instantly. At least there was that; they hadn't suffered. She had been in the shop helping Su-Wei and Thomas to keep things going smoothly when the police came to the shop and told her the news.

Bella wiped the tears from her cheeks. She missed her parents every day, but she was thankful for the life she had, they had given her. It was a very good life.

"Okay, let's get you cleaned," she muttered and went to get the vacuum cleaner.

The week went fast, and Beth came back. Bella did have dread in her heart that Beth would soon leave them to live closer to her daughter and her new granddaughter. It would be only natural but a significant loss for them. For her, it would almost be like losing her parents yet again.

Beth showed pictures of her granddaughter, Sienna Mary, and was the very image of a proud grandmother. Beth's husband had died many years ago. She had one daughter, Sienna Mary's mother, Sally, and a son, Matthew, who lived in New York.

"Bella dear, I know what you are thinking. You think that I'm going to leave this place and move to live closer to my daughter and my granddaughter," Beth said and patted her hand. "But I'm not going to do that. I helped your grandparents, and then your parents build this place, and I want to continue working here with you, Thomas and Su-Wei. This is my home."

Bella was so relieved to hear her saying that. "Thank you, Beth. But please, tell me if you start feeling differently."

"I will, but I won't. My daughter and her husband chose to live in New York. Garry had an excellent job here too, but they wanted to move anyway. I did ask them when they moved and what happens when you'll have kids, and Sally said they would think about it when it happens. Now they can think about whether they need a grandmother near or not. If they do, they can move back here. I know grannies often run after their children to fill their lives with theirs, but this is my life here; it's been almost 60 years, and it will be till the day I die. It's unreasonable to expect me to abandon my life. But I will visit them more often than I have before."

"Of course, you will, whenever you need to," Bella said, feeling so thankful for having Beth in her life.

She went into the shop and saw Thomas and Su-Wei whispering and watching something intently. Those two were impossible sometimes, always gossiping.

"Hey guys, don't you have any work to do? Cause, I can think of many things."

"Shush now, look," Su-Wei hissed and pointed towards the door.

There was an extremely good-looking Native American man browsing books by the door. He held a book of Mixed Martia Arts in his hand, reading the book's back cover.

"Go back to work, you lazy asses," Bella said, laughing, and went to serve an elderly woman who was her regular client in the teashop.

"What can I get for you today, miss Ella?" she asked.

"I want that Heirloom white, the smaller bag. Thank you, my dear."

Bella took the tea tin from the shelf and used the scale to put the right amount of tea leaves in the bag. She loved the smell of tea. She loved to drink coffee more than tea, but the different scents of different teas made her feel happy. It was one of the constant things in her life; the smells held lots of memories. Her mother had been the tea lady, and she had known all there was to know about tea. Bella could never be as good as her mother, and she didn't have the aspiration to be either, but she wanted to keep the teashop open. It had been vital for Renée.

"It's 14,95, thank you."

"Here you go, my dear. Keep the change," miss Ella gave her 15 and left the store.

Bella put the tin jar back on the shelf. She turned back to the counter to clean the scale when she saw the gorgeous man standing behind the desk smiling brightly, his white teeth on full display. He reminded her of Embry.

"I've heard that you serve the best café in this part of the city," the man said.

Fuck, she is even more beautiful than he remembered. And, of course, he hadn't even seen her this close before. Her big brown almond-shaped eyes were full of wonder and glee. Freckles were faintly dotting her cheeks; he hadn't seen those in the photo. They were fucking cute. Her lips were full and moist and damn how he wanted to taste them.

Bella blushed slightly under his attentive stare. Fucking adorable.

"Um...Yeah, we sell the best coffee in the city. And tea," she added, pointing to the shelves full of colorful tins and paper bags behind her.

"Cool. Never been much of a tea drinker but must say today might be a good day to start."

Bella flashed a big smile. And Paul was unable to take his eyes off her.

"But if you want the best coffee, Thomas here is pleased to help you with that," Bella said, and a middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses who he remembered seeing in the photo came to stand next to a big coffee machine.

"What can I get you, handsome? Americano? Espresso? Cortado? Latte? Macchiato? Pour-over? Red Eye? Or maybe spice latte with cream on top." Thomas asked, popping the "P," his eyes fixed on him.

Paul didn't have a fucking clue what those all meant. He looked at Bella, acting very confused, who started to laugh. That laugh resonated throughout his body, making his semihard twitch in his jeans.

"You want black coffee or coffee with milk? Black coffee has many options, but you can choose between dripped, hand-brewed, or espresso."

Paul laughed, "I really can't decide. That red-eye shit sounded interesting. What is it?"

"It's filtered coffee with two espresso shots," Thomas explained. "It kicks off your knickers." Still looking at him. Yep, as gay as the sun was yellow. Paul was used to getting checked out by both females and males, and usually, he didn't mind, but right now, he needed Bella to know that he wasn't into guys, and he was finding her very attractive.

"Okay, Thomas, stop harassing our customer," Bella said, slapping Thomas's arm.

"I'll take that hand-brewed coffee. You can make it extra strong," Paul said, still staring at Bella.

"You want anything to eat with that?" Bella asked. "We still have a few killer apple muffins left from the bakery down the street."

"It sounds good, thanks."

Paul watched Bella take the muffin from the counter and place it on a plate with two chocolates.

She was stunning. Her long hair was in a ponytail that reached down her waist. She wore a green knee-length dress that showed her sexy figure to perfection. And fuck those legs that went for a mile. Even her tiny feet that had cute thongs on were sexy as hell. Her toenails were green, and there were toe rings in her pinky toes.

"If you like these, you are always welcome back to have more," she said with her bright smile that could melt Antarctica.

Oh yeah, baby. I'm coming back, don't you worry about that.

"Hey, Miss, can you help me find this book?" A young girl came to the counter and showed Bella a piece of paper. Bella took the paper and read what it said, and smiled.

"Sure. It's this way."

At the same time, two Asian people came in through the side door and started to talk to Bella, apparently in Chinese. Bella smiled at them and said something he didn't understand, probably in Chinese.

"Hey Su-Wei, come here, please; I need you to help with Mr. And Mrs. Cheng," Bella said, and a small Asian girl appeared and stared at him with a deep blush on her face. Paul winked at the girl, and she giggled.

Paul took the coffee from Thomas nodding his thanks, the plate with a muffin and chocolates and found a place to sit. He found a nice table next to a window and sat down. He had a good vantage point towards the cashier and bookshelf where Bella was showing the book to the girl. She was telling the girl something; her face lit with excitement. Fuck she was beautiful. Paul just stared at her. It was all he was capable of doing; to stare at her.

He took a sip from the coffee, and it was damn good.

He heard someone giggle and saw Su-Wei looking at him and whispering something to Thomas. They were probably noticing his shameless eye fucking, but he didn't care. He had come with genuine intentions to ask Bella out. He just needed to think about how to do it. He for sure didn't want to blow this up.

He'd come to San Francisco just the day before, but he'd been eager to see Bella and make his move, so he hadn't wasted any time coming here.

He'd gotten a spot on the food fair, which was on for the next three weeks. Another fair started after that in a different location. What happened after the food fairs were all up in the air. He wouldn't go back to La Push before he had made Bella his, and after that, he would have to stay here to keep her-

He would find work; it was easy with his skills, and now that he thought about it, why the fuck had he been stuck in La fucking Push anyway. Sure, he had his friends there and his voluntary MMA teaching job at the youth center, but nothing else holds a torch for him there. He had his drunken parents, but he never saw them anyway. There wasn't any reason for him to stay there any longer. He looked at Bella and caught her eye when she took the girl to the cashier to pay for the book. She smiled at him, and his heart skipped a beat.

No, there was no single reason why he should go back to La Push, but all the reasons to stay here.

Paul smiled back.

AN:

Here's the second chapter for you. I have never been to San Francisco, but I hope to travel there someday. Drive from there towards Vancouver and visit LaPush on the way, of course ;)

If you've read my other stories, you notice that Paul is pretty much the same in them all; a man whore with a drinking problem, bad parents, a chef, and physically very fit. But I just can't picture him being anything different.

You hard-core Paul fans; It's still early days in this story, but I wouldn't give up just yet. I'm Bella/Paul fan to my core, but I have a sweet spot for Embry; I have had it ever since I read LJ Summer's The hardest part and it's sequel. They are good read also because Paul isn't mentioned in them and so no damn imprinting on Rachel (which I just hate so much ;).

Thank you for your comments, faves, and follows.